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evelation 153had been to deliver the revelation in such a way that full comprehensionby everyone was secured. Prophets other than MuÈammad (ß)had indeed been asked to do exactly this, since in their messagesGod’s punishment was announced to everyone who did not pay heedto the prophet’s words. And since God would not punish anyonewho had not consciously become aware of His revelation, prophetswere required to disseminate God’s word to literally everyone.Therefore, whenever the text mentions prophets such as Shu#aib,‘§liÈ, or Håd, the verb ablagha (4th form) is used:So Salih left them, saying: “O my people! I did indeed convey to you[ablaghtukum] the message for which I was sent by my Lord…” ( Al-A#r§f7:79) 38I [Hud] (at least) have conveyed the message [ablaghtukum] with whichI was sent to you… (Håd 11:57)“That He may know that they have (truly) brought and [madeperceived] 39 [ablaghå] the messages of their Lord…” ( Al-Jinn 72:28)This in stark contrast to the much broader mission of MuÈammad(ß) who had been asked to proclaim Allah’s last revelation to allhumankind. In his time, surely MuÈammad (ß) did not have themeans to reach everyone on earth. Hence, his role was limited toproclaim Allah’s message without the need to reach everyone (acoustically)and without the need to receive confirmation that he hadbeen heard:O apostle! Proclaim [balligh] the (message) which has been sent to you[unzila ilayk] from your Lord. If you did not, you would not have fulfilledand proclaimed His mission. And God will defend you from men(who mean mischief )… ( Al-M§"ida 5:67)If we apply the above considerations to the two terms of al-tanzÊl andal-inz§l, we may deduce that al-tanzÊl (2nd form) refers to the processof communication that occurs outside the human mind. Al-inz§l (4thform), in contrast, describes the process of recognition inside thehuman mind. The difference is that in al-tanzÊl ideas are exchangedunrecognized by the human brain, whereas in al-inz§l these ideas aretransformed into information that is perceived and understood.38Almost identical: ‘So Shu#ayb left them, saying: “O my people! I did indeedconvey to you [ablaghtukum) the messages for which I was sent by my Lord: I gaveyou good counsel…”’ ( Al-A#r§f 7:93).39YA, MF, AH, AhA, AA: ‘delivered’; MP: ‘conveyed’; AB: ‘transmitted’.